take your answer off the air...

Talker's MagazineThe quirky talk radio trade mag. Check the Talk Radio Research Project- it's not very scientific, but places on the top 15 talkers list (scroll down to Talk Radio Audiences By Size)) are as hotly contested as Emmys (and mean just about as much).

The AdvocateNo, not THAT Advocate... it's the Northwest Progressive Institute's Official Blog.

Media MattersDocumentation of right-wing media in video, audio and text.

Orcinushome of David Neiwert, freelance investigative journalist and author who writes extensively about far-right hate groups

Hominid Views"People, politics, science, and whatnot"
Darryl is a statistician who fights imperialism with empiricism, gives good links and wry commentary.

Jesus' General An 11 on the Manly Scale of Absolute Gender, a 12 on the Heavenly Scale of the 10 Commandments and a 6 on the earthly scale of the Immaculately Groomed.

Irrational Public Radio "informs, challenges, soothes and/or berates, and does so with a pleasing vocal cadence and unmatched enunciation. When you listen to IPR, integrity washes over you like lava, with the pleasing familiarity of a medium-roast coffee and a sensible muffin."

The Moderate VoiceThe voice of reason in the age of Obama, and the politics of the far-middle.

News Hounds Dogged dogging of Fox News by a team who seems to watch every minute of the cable channel so you don't have to.

HistoryLinkFun to read and free encyclopedia of Washington State history. Founded by the late Walt Crowley, it's an indispensable tool and entertainment source for history wonks and surfers alike.

right-wing blogs we like

The Reagan WingHearin lies the real heart of Washington State Republicans. Doug Parris runs this red-meat social conservative group site which bars no holds when it comes to saying who they are and who they're not; what they believe and what they don't; who their friends are and where the rest of the Republicans can go. Well-written, and flaming.

January 03, 2013

R.I.P KPTK and the Future of Radio: Part Two

We continue the discussion after the fallout of AM1090 changing to sports with a Q and A we had recently with a local station owner we'll call Radio Guy. We kept his name and market out of it but he offers some insight to the changes going on now and how he remains hopeful in spite of changing technology and formats along with changes in ownership.

BlatherWatch: Is progressive talk done after a 6-8 year run? Some say
NPR fills that void but most of their programming is news
and features, with little call-in.

Radio Guy: Without
a base of major cities, it will be a challenge for the
syndicator(s) of those programs to maintain an advertising
network. If they can hold on to even one top ten market
and use that as an anchor point, they can make it work.
But, it’s an open question as to whether that revenue
model is enough to keep a major syndicator or the host
interested. That being said, some of the hosts in the
format are clearly talented and it’s likely they will be
picked up by someone if they want to remain in radio.

If you can't sell
progressive talk on the west coast, it can't succeed
anywhere. I wish KLAY the best, but I've sold
controversial programming, and without
advertiser/believers it doesn't matter if you have a 1.0
share.

BW: Some stations have merged both progressive and conservative
talkers like 960 in San Francisco, do you see more of that happening as
this is what the market will bear as formats in some cities
may be too heavy with the same programming?

RG: From
a programming standpoint, it’s a questionable decision to
try to be all things to all people. I haven’t looked at
the research lately. Mixing programs like that is a
roadblock to time spent listening. Can you create a
larger audience base to overcome less time spent listening
by mixing programming? I doubt it. If you’re relying on
syndicated programming, I think you end up cannibalizing
both because consumers have been trained to understand
radio stations by formats. “If I turn on station ABCD,
I’m going to get X every time.” If you’re 100% local, if
you have a big signal, if you’ve been doing
information/talk forever, and your hosts are hitting local
issues, then you have more flexibility in your mix of
hosts.

I
don’t know much about 960, like who owns it, and whether
it is simply being used as an anchor signal to sell a
network or not.

BW: Is there more room for syndicated sports talk, ESPN, FOX,
CBS and possibly Cumulus? How much money can 4 networks
throw at this before 1 may have to exit or does it matter?
I see Cumulus not that well managed so far. They blew up
KGO.

RG: KGO
was mishandled in a significant way. WGN was a better
transition.

People
have to step back from looking at what CBS is doing as a
radio play. This is bigger than radio. The decision to
roll this out is about creating a multi-platform,
multi-media presence for CBS Sports to enable them to be
available anywhere and everywhere someone wants the brand
just like ESPN has done. ESPN has set the competitive
bar, and they’re soaking up sports rights in part because
they have created a synergistic brand machine. CBS has
figured that out, and they are moving in the same
direction because it has been so successful for ESPN. FOX
has distribution through Clear Channel, but they have a
ways to go in terms of bringing everything together as
ESPN has done. Cumulus is part of the CBS deal. The
network question of the day is what happens to the sports
radio network NBC is trying to push, and what happens to
the Yahoo! Sports Network. From a local perspective, what
CBS is doing might hurt 710 and 950, but you have to also
recognize that when 710 joined 950 doing sports, the total
sphere of sports listeners actually increased in Seattle.
There are more sports radio listeners today than there
were when 950 was alone. I doubt that will happen again
with CBS being here, but it will be interesting to watch.

BW: Are some of these changes window-dressing until
stations are eventually culled out and shuttered over being
irrelevant as technology changes or will there always be a
market for an under performing AM or FM no matter the
economy or dropping numbers in listeners?

RG: In
1970, there were approx. 6,600 radio stations total in the
US. Today, there are over 21,000 if you include
translators and boosters. It’s a ridiculous number of
radio signals, but there is still value in all of them.
More on that in a moment.

There
are a significant number of radio signals losing money in
every market of the country, but radio is not irrelevant,
not even AM. You can say it isn’t cool or sexy right
now. It’s under promoted. But, radio is not irrelevant.
Most Internet companies are hemorrhaging, too. Look at
Pandora. They can’t make a profit. Frankly, Pandora
should just go out and buy a bunch of cheap, AM
terrestrial signals for no other reason than to leverage
radio’s lower rights fee structure without heading to
Congress and force the rights issue that way. There isn’t
a single Internet audio offering that wouldn’t be stronger
by having a terrestrial signal paired with it. There
isn’t a single newspaper on the Internet that wouldn’t be
stronger by having a terrestrial signal paired with it.
Radio is simply going through a reinvention phase right
now. This industry is the ultimate survivor. The radio
audience is the largest its ever been today reaching 93%
of all Americans each week.

Comments

There's some truth in the synergy between broadcast and internet platforms. While the KIRO radio app (with in-studio video) is nice, I find that the Tune-in radio app offers the convenience of favorites/pre-sets and a selection of stations from literally across the world.

The irony is that the local broadcast radio stations have become pawns in the networks' game of wanting a sports radio station in every local market, while internet radio/podcasting potentially allows local/original programming a global market.

While there are data caps on wireless plans, you can listen to an hour of audio for the same bandwidth download as a few minutes of video. And sitting at home in the evening, I'm listening mostly through my home internet connection where bandwidth caps aren't a factor.

If I were going to buy a "stealth" network, I would buy Educational Media Foundation, owner of at least 245 radio stations. Many are Low Power or Educational but that wouldn't matter if you were promoting another service instead of selling spots.

These stations are now religious, but lots of broadcasters started out as religious broadcasters, like ION TV.

Not sure where to put this, but on KLAY's facebook page, about an hour ago, they said they are pushing up timeslots with Stephanie Miller going to be on about 9AM, and Thom Hartmann at 4PM. Still not live, but better. They said it is due to issues with Dr, Joy Browne's program, probably having something to do with being dropped after the recent takeover of her home station, WOR in New York, by Clear Channel.

Your welcome. I just happened to notice it, getting used to using my Kindle Fire I got for Christmas. Probalby be using it to access KLAY too, partly because if I can barely hear KIRO FM in Seattle above the static, probably not be able to get 1180AM either. I tried once, but the static was high.

Another progressive station I was afraid of losing, was 880 in Asheville NC, because Blake Buetler, the local host in the afternoons, was let go, and the station was owned by Clear Channel. It turns out. They are trying out new local hosts. Not sure if they can do much with any format on the station, as it is a daytimer, and gets bumped for a station on 880 out of NYC. Many times listening to the podcast of the show, Local Edge Radio, they have said, mostly in the third hour, that it was sunset time, and if anybody wanted to keep listening, get out the smart phones and computers, where the show, and then Norman Goldman, would continue. Other stations in the area, have to at least go directional at night. It is the same with WCHL in Chapel Hill, but they recently bought a FM Translator.

For those of you here, there may be one or two, who are wondering how to hear the Todd Schnitt Show , since it was unceremoniously dropped from the noon to three p.m. slot,on KVI,to make way for major creepo and Mormon nutbar Glenn Beck, go to The Schnitt show.com. The day's show is available hour by hour in podcast form. In earlier days, Mormon pinheads in suits from Bonneville could control what was on KIRO at will, serving as moronic gatekeepers for my radio listening choices. Thankfully that day is no more. F you KIROfm management- your attempt to shove this brass-plated jackass and creep down my throat from noon to three after throwing a great talk show out of the slot is a big fat fail. Pinheads.

KVI am 570 KHz Visit the burnt-out husk of one of the seminal right-wing talkers in all the land. Here's where once trilled the reactionary tones of Rush Limbaugh, John Carlson, Kirby Wilbur, Mike Siegel, Peter Weissbach, Floyd Brown, Dinky Donkey, and Bryan Suits.
Now it's Top 40 hits from the '60's & '70's aimed at that diminishing crowd who still remembers them and can still hear.

KTTH am 770 KHzRight wing home of local, and a whole bunch of syndicated righties such as Glennn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Medved, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Lars Larsony, and for an hour a day: live & local David Boze.